How do letters of recommendation work? Do you get a physical letter from the professor or whoever you're requesting one from and then have them (or do you) personally send it in somewhere. Or is it done electronically in some manner? Sorry for the stupid question but I tried looking but couldn't find much on it. I'm also pretty new to law school admissions.

The process was much easier for me than they make it seem on the website, so don't get too bogged down by LSAC's directions. You just enter in the profs' contact info and then it sends them an email and they go from there. You can see when they have uploaded the letter so you don't have to worry that you won't know when they have sent it.

My profs didn't have any trouble uploading but I have heard it can be tricky.

I'm currently a second-semester sophomore. If I came across someone or knew someone now that I would like an LOR from but didn't think I'd be seeing them for a while after this semester could I request an LOR from them and have it uploaded now despite the fact that I wouldn't be applying for a little while yet? Is there any "expiration" time on LORs? And how soon should you set up an account, when did you guys set up your accounts?

hillz wrote:The process was much easier for me than they make it seem on the website, so don't get too bogged down by LSAC's directions. You just enter in the profs' contact info and then it sends them an email and they go from there. You can see when they have uploaded the letter so you don't have to worry that you won't know when they have sent it.

My profs didn't have any trouble uploading but I have heard it can be tricky.

Uploading itself was fine. All issues my profs had were related to literally registering accounts / recovering previous accounts. Other than that this is correct.

mattf wrote:I'm currently a second-semester sophomore. If I came across someone or knew someone now that I would like an LOR from but didn't think I'd be seeing them for a while after this semester could I request an LOR from them and have it uploaded now despite the fact that I wouldn't be applying for a little while yet? Is there any "expiration" time on LORs? And how soon should you set up an account, when did you guys set up your accounts?

I definitely recommend having your prof write the LOR while you are still fresh on his/her mind. The LOR will be valid years later because what they have to say about who you were as a student & your abilities is still going to be true.

Your CRS account lasts for 5 years, so if you don't plan to apply within that time frame, you could have your UG credential service (if you have one) keep your letters on file and then send them to CRS later on when you apply.

mattf wrote:Okay, so when I go talk to a professor about this generally they'll have an idea of how to do it. And if not I explain to them how to set up an LSAC account?

They will know how to write a LoR. The LSAC thing is straightforward in the email they get, but you can help them if you need to. Again, not hard. If they hit problems, have them call the support line and everything will be dandy.